Preston E. James

Last updated
Preston E. James
Born
Preston Everett James

(1899-02-14)February 14, 1899
DiedJanuary 5, 1986(1986-01-05) (aged 86) [2]
Awards
Academic background
Alma mater

Preston Everett James was an American geographer. He was president of the American Association of Geographers from 1951 to 1952, [5] and gave the annual presidential address at their 1966 banquet. [6]

Contents

James' work had a distinct focus on the geography of Latin America, and as such, the Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers' Preston E. James Eminent Latin Americanist Career Award is named for him. [7]

Career

James joined Harvard University in 1916, though left in 1918 for topographic study at a ROTC camp. [8] He decided to join the military and fought in World War I, [9] then returned to Harvard to complete a B.A. and an M.A. before transferring to Clark University, [8] where he received a Ph.D. in 1923. [10] Following this, he joined the University of Michigan faculty. [11] He shifted his priorities to his military service in 1941, after the onset of World War II.

In 1943, James was raised to the rank of Lieutenant colonel, and he served as the head of a geographic division during World War II. [2] Following the war, in 1945, James accepted an offer from George Cressey to join the faculty of Syracuse University, where he earned the title Maxwell Professor of Geography in 1964, and became emeritus in 1970. [12] [2] He served as chair of the Geography Department from 1950 to 1958, [2] succeeding Cressey in the position. [13] During the summer of 1962, he toured Europe by car. [14] Though the specific date ranges are unknown, he also served as adjunct professor of geography at Florida Atlantic University during the 1970s. [15] He was admitted to the Florida Society of Geographers in 1973. [16]

James visited the campus of Rollins College in 1965 to speak at a Latin-American forum. [17] He had also spoken multiple times at the University of Kentucky's Geography in the Bluegrass Day. [18]

In May 1967, James received an honorary Doctor of Science from Eastern Michigan University. [19] [20]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Physiographic regions of the United States</span> Geographic regions of the United States with a characteristic geomorphology

The physiographic regions of the contiguous United States comprise 8 divisions, 25 provinces, and 85 sections. The system dates to Nevin Fenneman's report Physiographic Divisions of the United States, published in 1916. The map was updated and republished by the Association of American Geographers in 1928. The map was adopted by the United States Geological Survey by publication in 1946.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waldo R. Tobler</span> American geographer

Waldo Rudolph Tobler was an American-Swiss geographer and cartographer. Tobler is regarded as one of the most influential geographers and cartographers of the late 20th century and early 21st century. He is most well known for coining what has come to be referred to as Tobler's first law of geography. He also coined what has come to be referred to as Tobler's second law of geography.

Carl Ortwin Sauer was an American geographer. Sauer was a professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley from 1923 until becoming professor emeritus in 1957. He has been called "the dean of American historical geography" and he was instrumental in the early development of the geography graduate school at Berkeley. One of his best known works was Agricultural Origins and Dispersals (1952). In 1927, Carl Sauer wrote the article "Recent Developments in Cultural Geography," which considered how cultural landscapes are made up of "the forms superimposed on the physical landscape."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Churchill Semple</span> American geographer (1863–1932)

Ellen Churchill Semple was an American geographer and the first female president of the Association of American Geographers. She contributed significantly to the early development of the discipline of geography in the United States, particularly studies of human geography. She is most closely associated with work in anthropogeography and environmentalism, and the debate about "environmental determinism".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Association of Geographers</span> American professional academic organization

The American Association of Geographers (AAG) is a non-profit scientific and educational society aimed at advancing the understanding, study, and importance of geography and related fields. Its headquarters is located in Washington, D.C. The organization was founded on December 29, 1904, in Philadelphia, as the Association of American Geographers, with the American Society of Professional Geographers later amalgamating into it in December 1948 in Madison, Wisconsin. As of 2020, the association has more than 10,000 members, from nearly 100 countries. AAG members are geographers and related professionals who work in the public, private, and academic sectors.

Latin American studies (LAS) is an academic and research field associated with the study of Latin America. The interdisciplinary study is a subfield of area studies, and can be composed of numerous disciplines such as economics, sociology, history, international relations, political science, geography, cultural studies, gender studies, and literature.

Mark Stephen Monmonier is a Distinguished Professor of Geography and the Environment at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs of Syracuse University. He specializes in toponymy, geography, and geographic information systems.

Donald William Meinig was an American geographer. He was Maxwell Research Professor Emeritus of Geography at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Butzer</span>

Karl W. Butzer was a German-born American geographer, ecologist, and archaeologist. He received two degrees at McGill University, Montreal: the B.Sc. (hons) in Mathematics in 1954 and later his master's degree in Meteorology and Geography. Afterwards in the 1950s he returned to Germany to the University of Bonn to obtain a doctorate in physical geography. He obtained a master's degree in Meteorology and Geography from McGill University and a doctorate in physical geography from the University of Bonn in Germany.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Cressey</span> American geographer (1896–1963)

George Babcock Cressey was an American geographer, author, and academic. Born in Tiffin, Ohio, he attended Denison University and then the University of Chicago, where he received a PhD in geology. After receiving his degree, he taught at University of Shanghai and traveled widely in China. Upon his return to the United States in 1929, he completed a pioneering book on the country, China's Geographic Foundations.

Geographers on Film is an archival collection and series of more than 550 filmed interviews with experts of the geographic scholar community. This is a 40 year long initiative.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">William E. Doolittle</span> American geographer

William E. Doolittle is an American geographer who is prominent among the fourth generation of the Berkeley School of Latin Americanist Geography. He is currently the Erich W. Zimmermann Regents Professor in Geography at the Department of Geography and the Environment at University of Texas at Austin. He specializes in landscapes and agricultural technology in the American Southwest and Mexico.

Andrew Sluyter is an American social scientist who currently teaches as a professor in the Geography and Anthropology Department of the Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. His interests are the environmental history and historical, cultural, and political ecology of the colonization of the Americas. He has made various contributions to the theorization of colonialism and landscape, the critique of neo-environmental determinism, to understanding pre-colonial and colonial agriculture and environmental change in Mexico, to revealing African contributions to establishing cattle ranching in the Americas, and to the historical geographies of Hispanics and Latinos in New Orleans. With the publication of Black Ranching Frontiers: African Cattle Herders of the Atlantic World, 1500–1900 and a 2012–13 Digital Innovation Fellowship from the American Council of Learned Societies, he has joined a growing number of scholars from multiple disciplines working from the perspective of Atlantic History and using the tools of the Digital Humanities. His latest book, Hispanic and Latino New Orleans: Immigration and Identity since the Eighteenth Century, co-authored with Case Watkins, James Chaney, and Annie M. Gibson, was awarded the 2015 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize by the American Association of Geographers.

The Berkeley School of Latin Americanist Geography was founded by the American geographer Carl O. Sauer. Sauer was a professor of geography at the University of California at Berkeley from 1923 until becoming professor emeritus in 1957 and was instrumental in the early development of the geography graduate program at Berkeley and the discipline of geography in the United States. Each generation of this research school has pursued new theoretical and methodological approaches, but their study of the peoples and places of Latin America and the Caribbean has remained the common denominator since the early 20th century. Carl O. Sauer himself did not develop a particular interest in Latin America before 1925, when Oskar Schmieder, a German geographer, disciple of Alfred Hettner, and expert in Latin American regional geography, arrived at Berkeley, coming from Córdoba, Argentina, to work as an associate professor. Obviously, his interest awoke during Schmieder's presence between 1925 and 1930. After Schmieder's departure in 1930, Carl O. Sauer began to offer seminars on the regional geography of Latin America.

The Conference of Latin Americanist Geographers (CLAG) was formed in 1970 to foster geographic education and research on Latin America. A board of directors governs CLAG. CLAG publishes a Newsletter and the Journal of Latin American Geography. It also operates CLAGNET, an electronic Listserv for members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anne Buttimer</span> Irish geographer

Anne Buttimer was an Irish geographer. She was emeritus professor of geography at University College, Dublin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Geography, University of Kentucky</span>

The Department of Geography in the College of Arts & Sciences at the University of Kentucky offers undergraduate degrees and graduate degrees and courses in physical and human geography. The department has an international reputation for the study of social theory and critical geography, including political ecology. Located in Lexington, Kentucky, the department is consistently ranked among leading geography graduate programs in the United States. The graduate students have organized the annual international conference, Dimensions of Political Ecology or DOPE, since 2010. In the summer of 2012, the department and faculty offices moved to the eighth floor of Patterson Office Tower.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fred B. Kniffen</span> American historical geographer

Fred Bowerman Kniffen was an American geographer and distinguished professor in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University for over 64 years. Kniffen had a background in anthropology, geography, and geology when he arrived at Louisiana State University in the late 1920s. While there, he made great strides in the Department of Geography and Anthropology that led to the development of new research areas, additional courses, and well trained graduate students. Kniffen stressed the importance of learning and understanding the history of geography, along with blending physical geography and anthropology with cultural geography. During Kniffen's time at Louisiana State University, he was an advocate for interdisciplinary research. Kniffen became a distinguished professor in the department in 1966, later becoming Boyd professor in 1967.

Oskar Schmieder was a German geographer and expert in the regional geography of Latin America. He spent his early career with Carl O. Sauer at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was an Associate Professor from 1926 to 1930.

John Fraser Hart is an American geographer. Over the course of his career he published over 150 scholarly papers, over a dozen books, and taught over 50,000 university students in his 65 years of teaching from 1949 until his retirement in 2015.

References

  1. Martin, Geoffrey J. (1988). "Preston E. James, 1899–1986". Annals of the Association of American Geographers. 78 (1): 164–175. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8306.1988.tb00201.x. ISSN   0004-5608. JSTOR   2563450.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Jensen, Robert G. (1986). "Preston Everett James, 1899-1986". Journal of Geography. 85 (6): 273–274. Bibcode:1986JGeog..85..273J. doi:10.1080/00221348608979430. ISSN   0022-1341. ProQuest   1290540886.
  3. "Presentation of the Society's Medals". Geographical Review. 57 (2): 241–245. 1967. ISSN   0016-7428. JSTOR   213162.
  4. "Medals and Awards". Royal Geographical Society . Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  5. "Presidents of the AAG". AAG . Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  6. Morey, Lillian B. (ed.). Geography at Syracuse 1967. p. 5. In August 1966, Dr. James was honorary president of the Association of American Geographers and gave the annual presidential address at the banquet in Toronto.
  7. "Preston E. James Eminent Latin Americanist Career Award". CLAG . Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  8. 1 2 James, Preston E. Preston E. James Papers. Syracuse University Libraries.
  9. Barnes, Trevor J. (2016). "American Geographers and World War II: Spies, Teachers, and Occupiers". Annals of the American Association of Geographers. 106 (3): 543–550. Bibcode:2016AAAG..106..543B. doi:10.1080/24694452.2016.1145513. ISSN   2469-4452. JSTOR   45387626.
  10. "James, Preston". The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (3rd ed.). 1979 via TheFreeDictionary.com.
  11. "Geography at Syracuse University". Science. 102 (2644): 218. 1945-08-31. doi:10.1126/science.102.2644.218.a. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   17778505.
  12. "Preston E. James". Britannica (Contributor). Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  13. Hall, John Whitney (1952). "News of the Profession". The Far Eastern Quarterly. 11 (2): 287–294. ISSN   0363-6917. JSTOR   2049405.
  14. "The Monadnock" (PDF). Monadnock. xxxvii: 13–24. 1963.
  15. James, Preston E. (1974). "The Southern Studies Project: A Paragraph in the History of American Geography". Southeastern Geographer. 14 (1): 1–6. doi:10.1353/sgo.1974.0011. ISSN   1549-6929.
  16. "MR. MELVIN F.CLEMENS, JR". The Florida Geographer. 9 (1): 3–4. February 1973.
  17. Rollins College Office of Marketing and Communications (1965). "Rollins Alumni Record, June 1965". Rollins Magazine.
  18. "Geography in the Bluegrass Day". University of Kentucky College of Arts & Sciences. University of Kentucky . Retrieved 2023-05-29.
  19. Morey, Lillian B. (ed.). Geography at Syracuse 1967. p. 5. In May he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from Eastern Michigan University at Ypsilanti.
  20. James, Preston (May 11, 1967). "Population Growth & Starvation" (Honors Convocation). Eastern Michigan University. Program . Retrieved 2023-05-29 via Eastern Michigan University Archives.

Further reading